From PROBLEM to POEM in 7 steps
the Why, Where, When, What, Who, How & Wow of writing poetry
Ai Ni and Ronaldo made this book to help poor people in Haiti, to build a school and teach them the art of a happy life.
A warning upfront from the editor:...
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Writing is a skill, a craft. Know-how comes with studying theory, but you learn a craft by practising often. Repetition will improve your skills, which leads to the happy feeling of getting better, and that pleasure strengthens your desire to do it more often...
Writing has three elements: format, content, and style.
Format is not only the difference between a limerick and a sonnet. It's the visual part of each poem. Rupi Kaur writes without capitals and punctuation marks, her separate lines define speed and accents, and her drawings say more than a thousand words. Paul van Ostaijen is another example of original, visual, musical poetry where format is part of the content.
Word choice and tone are elements of style, but style is also «you». A joke or a limerick might point towards simple words and a cheerful tone, but «you» might decide to write it like a literary professor-doctor. Most readers feel if a poem is written by a man or by a woman, by an old or a young person, by a serious type or a clown, by someone who knows her classics or by someone who likes to discover the borders of the universe. Readers feel a writer's heart and soul in a poem, hor laughs or tears, and hor pride when it was finished. If readers don't feel anything when they read a poem, it's because the writer felt nothing when she wrote it.
Format requires study. Style requires personality. Writing requires craft, skills, dedication, attitude, structure and an unquenchable fire of passion. You'll write better poetry after reading better poetry. Creativity is something you can learn.
The answer to the question "How do I write poetry?" is: by having fun. Be brave to try the impossible, and laugh about the mess you created. Love what you do. Creativity is just stubbornness, following a path nobody else dared to take, as they're convinced it will lead to nothing. You can only fail by not trying.
The stronger the opponent, the sweeter the victory.
